Mount Hope Plantation
Mount Hope Plantation House, located at One Cheverly Circle, was already in existence in 1839 when Fielder Magruder and his wife Ann moved onto the plantation. They added on to the existing structure in 1840 and the 1860s to create a two story, 5 bay house. In 1840 it was listed as having 200 acres, and by 1861 it was a 639-acre tobacco plantation. The 1842 tax assessment showed the first use of the name “Mount Hope.” The Magruders and 7 enslaved people were counted in the 1860 census as living in the house, with as many as 25 total enslaved people living on the plantation.
Mount Hope Plantation remained the main structure on the land that became Cheverly until the development of Cheverly was envisioned. The house was purchased by Robert Marshall in 1919. He was the developer from Ohio who planned and developed Cheverly. He renovated the house extensively and lived in Mount Hope for 10 years renaming it Crestlawn for the duration of his ownership which ended in 1929.
When the town was incorporated in 1931 the house was still one of the most prominent structures in the town. The plantation house became the center piece of the town seal. A garage structure was built behind the house, housing the electric delco battery that powered Cheverly and the official schoolhouse for its youngest residents. In 1941, the first mayor of Cheverly purchased and moved into Mount Hope keeping the house until 1977. In 1978, citizens organized to put Mount Hope on the National Register of Historic Places to protect and preserve it.
Dale Manty and Elizabeth Tuckermanty purchased the house from a commune in 1983. The long process of rehabilitating the neglected Mount Hope home began with major work done in 1986. They raised their two daughters at Mount Hope.
In 2019, Dana Hallman and Kayce Munyeneh approached Elizabeth and asked her to work with them to remove Mount Hope, a planation house, from the town seal. It was the wrong image to represent our diverse community. The Cheverly Town Council unanimously voted to remove Mount Hope from the seal in May of 2020.
The Mount Hope name now lives on in a new organization, The Mount Hope Commission, whose mission is to facilitate community healing and reconciliation through uncovering, sharing, and discussing the history of the indigenous peoples who first inhabited the land that is now the Town of Cheverly, the story of Mount Hope and the individuals who were enslaved there, and the stories of those impacted by the Town’s segregationist history and discriminatory practices. Through addressing past and present pain, reconciliation can begin, and the hope of an inclusive community that embraces all Cheverly residents can be realized.